U.S. Is Working to Ease Wiretaps on the Internet

officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is âgoing darkâ as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone. Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications â including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct âpeer to peerâ messaging like Skype â to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.